How to Start A Blog

I have been blogging for over a year now and I have learnt so much in that time. Not to put anyone off, but it’s a whole other world! Blogging. It’s almost like an alternate universe!

In the last few weeks I’ve had a few newer (than me) bloggers ask my advice on certain aspects of blogging, which has been humbling as there are so many more seasoned and experienced bloggers than me, and there are many newer bloggers who have a larger following than me. After the 3rd or 4th person, I realised that my knowledge has been gained the hard way, and if people want to learn from my experience then that is fine with me!

Before we go any further let me just say that there is no magic formula to become a huge blogger overnight, unless you pay for followers which will basically ruin any credibility you may have ever had, so don’t do that!

Yes, “we” can tell. Yes, it is dumb. No, don’t do that!

Always remember this saying, if you’ve not heard it before:

Content Is King!

People start blogging for lots of different reasons. I started for the sole purpose of regaining my sanity once both my girls were settled into a school routine. Some people start blogs for the sole purpose of making money. If you’re looking for how to go straight to that then this is not the post for you. Thanks for stopping by.

With those two positions made, I will aim to give you the fairly simple way to start your own blog based on my personal experience and the lessons I have learnt along the way. However, there is a lot to take into consideration so go make that cup of coffee before we really get started!

What Do You Want To Blog About?

Please know that it is perfectly acceptable to be a little torn and undecided, know that! Know that you are ‘on the fence’, undecided, torn. Just remember that. You don’t have to pick one topic, but just know that you are undecided.

Advance Research

Research the various blog platforms available and decide how much you want to spend. There are quite a few to choose from such as WordPress, Blogger, Tumblr, Wix, and many more. They will all offer various packages ranging from the basic free plans to the more professional premium cost plans.

*Tip – if you are trying blogging out for the first time, the basic free plans are really great! You can always upgrade later on when you want to. There is no need to spend too much money initially.

Choose A Name

Decide on a name for your blog. If you aren’t really sure what you will be blogging about, or if you have a couple of different ideas, I’d recommend choosing a name that doesn’t define only one of those markets – as you can see, my name aligns me clearly as a “mommy blogger”. I do write about other stuff now too, so sometimes I find my name doesn’t fit the topic. That’s what I mean. Don’t make that mistake.

However, if you have a firm idea in mind, be it travel, or parenting, beauty or cooking, then claim that. Know your identity. That is great and it will help to keep you focused.

Once you have a name in mind, go on google and check that it isn’t already taken. Do a bit of research. You may need to tweak your idea here and there.

You’ll want to make sure that your chosen name is available across the various social media platforms that are most widely used to promote your blog. You won’t want to have different names on each platform so as a minimum go and check the following:

Blog domain (WordPress etc. )

Email address (gmail, yahoo, live, etc.)

Twitter

Facebook

Instagram

Pinterest

Google +

YouTube.

There are many others too, but those are the most widely used.

A lot of you may think this is not necessary, but trust me. IF you discover that you love blogging, and writing and the whole blogosphere world, then you will regret not claiming these at the beginning. Truly! It’s so important. Just do it. Even if you never use them, at least they are yours!

Register!

Okay, this is the super exciting part! Once you know your name, you’re ready to register! First you need to register your email address (because you will need that to register your name on all the other platforms). Then go to the blog host of your choice, and register your name with your preferred blogging platform (i.e. WordPress).

And voila! You have a blog!

Congratulations!

Now you need to go about reserving your blog/brand name across the various social media platforms as listed above – all of them!

Top Tip: Write down your username and password for each one as you go. Some have different requirements when choosing a password/username etc so it is easy to get confused.

Branding!

Like it or not, your name is your brand so when you decide to start your blog, make sure you like it.

The next thing to do is to create a logo that suits your name and blog objective, and try to define a look that will make your blog easily recognizable and uniform across the various social media platforms. Don’t worry too much, you can always change this later down the line. The key is to keep your brand image uniform at all times.

There are many awesome designers out there who can help you with this if it’s not your forte’, all for a reasonable fee. Remember, you get what you pay for.

That said, there are also a huge number of free online resources you can use to create your own logo including sourcing free pictures. My personal favourites are Canva (for all blog post headers and images including tweaking your Instagram images with a few words, and then Pixabay who offer a huge range of free images to chosse from when you don’t want to take your own mediocre photos (assuming you’re not a photographer of course!). It all depends on your personal level of creativity, and of course, your budget.

Write!

This might be the hardest part, or the easiest part, depending on you. It’s time to write. Time to show us what you have to say! Go on. Write!

Promote … Yes, Promote!

After you have created your first post, you need to share it. Share your posts across the various platforms you already reserved above. Many of these you can link to your blog using the publicize function and share all at once with the click of one button. Sometimes it’s a case of copy & pasting.

You do need to make use of the top 3 though: Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!

Trust me, just do it.

Always remember, you might be the most amazing writer with the most innovative and engaging ideas, thoughts and perspective. But if you don’t share them, no one will ever know.

Engage

Engage with your audience. Reply to comments on your posts, follow a few blogs that you like to read. Read other people’s stuff. Follow people whose pictures inspire you. Share other people’s work on your social media platforms. This show s that you are actively enageing in the community you want to be a part of.

By doing this, you will grow your following.

If you don’t engage with people in the online community you won’t get engagement back. Simple as that.

Whilst self-promotion might make you cringe at first, remember that if you don’t make sure pther people ‘hear’ what you have to say, you may as well be quiet.

Manners!

Lastly, but equally as importantly as the other steps above, remember to ‘mind your manners’! Yes, Yes, I’m a mom!

Say what you want to say, far be it from me to censor anyone, but even the most opinionated blogger out there, needs to remember to mind their manners. My advice would be to not say something online that you wouldn’t be willing to say in person. Let that be your filter.

Other than that I’ve written a couple of posts about this very subject that have been very warmly received ‘out there’ that I would urge you to read:

I could go on and on about the various ins and outs of the different platfoms, such as the use of hashtags, linkys, groups, etc, but really … if you don’t start just writing, all of the above is pointless.

Just write!

You need to take your own thoughts, words and ideas, and craft them into something intelligible, then share them with the world! The quality of your work will come, the quality of your images will come, and your knowledge of the social media minefield will come, all in good time, all through trial, error and experience.

Simple, right?

Clear as mud!

Let me know if this post helped you. If any other more experienced bloggers have anything they’d like to add, please let me know. Also, if you want any further advice or assistance, please feel free to get in touch.

I love helping people to help themselves! I hope this post helps you if you are considering jumping into the awesome blogosphere. If so, How To Start A Blog was written to help you. Please share if you think it is useful.

It’s good that you share what you are learning and already know. We sometimes underestimate that there’s people who need to hear from what we’ve learned because they want to learn too. And blogging is not easy, like everything there’s processes so thank you for sharing this.

In only 5 days you have taught me so much, I think I will forever be grateful to you! You open an entire new world for me ….. who knew we can still learn so much at our age! I’m grateful that you found me ….,. You are an awesome teacher, a wonderful giver and truly a God sent ….. especially to me! “More than u know!”
❤️

Loved this – very helpful since I’m just starting out. “Just write” is really good advice – I feel like sometimes we worry about sounding perfect or even right. I would love your feedback on my blog if you have any time to offer your thoughts. Thanks for your post 🙂